Tola clutched her stomach in pain. She woke and turned to her husband beside her on the bed. Earlier in the day, her mother in-law had called her making not-so vague statements about her childless situation causing Tola to continually cry.
Truth be told, she and Femi, her husband were medically alright and they were saving up for GIFT (Gamete intra fallopian transfer) , As they had 2 failed IVFs (in-vitro fertilization) and nothing wrong with her or either of them like her gynecologist liked to strain.
She had changed her diet to seem more suitable for child bearing as one book she bought randomly on Amazon said, she also consistently went for spiritual services and followed all kinds of routines to no avail.
With the lower portion of her abdomen clenching hard, she crawled out of bed, her hand looking for her car keys in the dark.
Was it what she ate last night? But there was nothing wrong with the soup, she had prepared it herself.
Wait!
Her afternoon meal was ordered, like every other weekday, but yesterday’s own was from a different restaurant. She felt a sudden craving of garden egg soup?, However, her go-to restaurant didn’t have that on their menu causing her to drive an extra 45minutes away from her workplace.
Truth be told, she had gotten it from a buka which wasn’t hygienic enough.
The pain radiated down her legs making it hard for her to stand. In a bid to stand, she knocked over her bedside lamp causing her husband, Femi to stir.
“What’s it love?” He asked groggily.
“No—nothing” she gasped as another wave of pain went through her body.
Femi frowned in the dark, Tola wasn’t sounding right. He put on his bedside table lamp and the soft lamp illuminated the room.
Seeing her in writhing on the floor, he jumped from the bed.
“Tola! Baby talk to me. What’s going on?”
Clutching her husband shorts, she took in deep breaths and pointed to her abdominal region.
Femi couldn’t register anything else in his head. Tola wasn’t okay and that was the only thing running through his mind.
Quickly, he strode over to the chair and picked the jalabiya he had thrown there the previous night. Grabbing his phone and keys, he carried his wife bridal style half running into the car.
While driving to the hospital, Tola looked at him and hooked their fingers together, “I think it’s food poisoning”
He looked at her and nodded, a thin line on his face only increasing his speed.
HOSPITAL
The nurse looked at the jittery husband and took Tola in for an abdominal scan.
“She’s being transferred to the gynecology and obstetrics department. It’s on the 4th floor” she looked at him.
“What’s going on?”
“We have an hypothesis but that’s not for us to say, the GYN department will be better suited to answer your questions” she took a long look at him and left.
Femi raced to the elevator.
“Hello, I’m Tola Newcastle husband. She got transferred from the GI (gastrointestinal) department.”
The tired looking nurse typed her name into the computer in front of her and gestured to the hallway.
“Three doors down is the consultant office. You’re in luck, he’s currently in. He’ll like to see you”
Femi wiped his palms on his shorts.
What was the doctor saying again?
“It’s more advisable that she undergoes a cesarean section for the delivery of the foetus. Giving that she didn’t attend any ante-natal or take extra care in preparation for her childbirth and also the fact that she’s a Primi. We have also checked her, she is dilated by 2cm. She mentioned that the contractions began around 3am in the morning and seeing this is close to 6am with not much changes in her dilation and that we have her history I advise the CS”
“Wait--- wait” Femi’s mind was reeling. “ I don’t understand. Contractions? What contractions?”
The doctor pushed up his wide-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose and gave him a short smile. “ Your wife, Mrs. Tola Newcastle, has what we call a cryptic pregnancy. Here she shows no signs nor symptoms of a normal pregnancy.
How does one know if one is cryptically pregnant? Childbirth.
There is no morning sickness, no abdominal increase and even pregnancy tests may come back negative.
Also the vaginal bleeding which is mostly mistaken for menstrual periods is mostly implantation bleeding. This occurs when the embryo implants into the endometrial lining of the uterus. This causes some of the blood vessels to be eroded leading to the bleeding mistaken as period.
This occurs in females with irregular periods, to which your wife said she has. The fact that she is also a Primi contributed to this as she had no previous knowledge of how her body reacts to pregnancy.
We ran an ultrasound to be certain and turns out you’re having a baby.”
Femi looked at the consultant, tears brimming in his eyes.
“I need to sign the consent form right? Where is it?”
Tola held her husband’s hands as she was wheeled to the theater their eyes reflecting their love for each other.
“All will be well” he mouthed the words to her as the doors to the theater got shut.
Writer Details:Temidayo✍️
Location:Ekiti State University,Ado Ekiti,Nigeria🇳🇬.
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